technology needs to consume 30% more
coal than a standard plant to produce the
same amount of electricity). Total is working
on technologies that would entail smaller
energy penalty or capital expenditures.
One of the most promising techniques is
Chemical Looping Combustion (CLC), which
could reduce the energy penalty of carbon
capture. The company is also working on
technologies for converting CO2, particularly
into feedstocks for the chemicals industry.
In addition to these technical considerations, other questions must be answered
regarding market mechanisms, such as
who will operate the capture and storage
facilities and how financial rewards will
be divided among the different players in
the value chain. Other questions relate to
regulations, such as how responsibility for
storage operations will be allocated over
time, and how to gain the public support
for this technology. These are crucial issues
given the projected size of the CCUS industry (among the biggest) and its importance
in combating climate change.

The high costs associated
with the most mature
CO2 capture technologies
need to be reduced.

R E N E WA B L E E N E R G Y | D O M I N I Q U E C O P I N

2050, a volume comparable to current oil
and gas production: in which case, Carbon
Capture and Storage (CCS) will eventually
become a market worth hundreds of billions
of dollars per year.
In 2010, Total set up a pilot project in Lacq
in the French Pyrenees, for an investment
of â&#x201A;Ź60 million. Lacq was the first integrated
CCS chain that involved capturing carbon as
it exits an industrial boiler, transporting it to
a storage site and injecting it into a depleted
natural gas reservoir 4,500 meters underground. To produce steam out of natural
gas, Total implemented oxy-combustion
technology, which eliminates all nitrogen
from the flue gas by replacing the air in the
boiler with oxygen, leaving only steam and
CO2. As of mid-March 2013, when injection
for the pilot project ceased, 51â&#x20AC;&#x2122;000 metric
tons of carbon had been captured and
stored.
The high costs associated with the most
mature CO2 capture technologies need to
be reduced, as must the high energy penalties (a plant equipped with carbon capture